Campaigning for the better maintenance of Britain’s historic buildings.

Our central belief is that any historic building not getting appropriate routine maintenance is a building at risk.

Maintain is a UK-wide not-for- profit group set up in 1997. It is unique in the UK in being concerned entirely with encouraging maintenance. For more on our activities, please see the What We Do page.

By “maintenance” we mean routine, preventive work such as clearing out drains and gutters, to reduce the rate at which the exposed materials decay: as a result of the unavoidable impacts of rainwater, wind and sun.

If it doesn’t get this, the building will need repeated, expensive repairs, often without warning – losing more and more its original fabric and authenticity each time. And if the money (or commitment) isn’t available at the right time, the building can be lost for ever.

Maintenance is accepted as one of the fundamental tenets of conservation. Article 4 of the influential Venice Charter of 1964 states: “It is essential to the conservation of monuments that they be maintained on a permanent basis.” The Australia ICOMOS Burra Charter, 2013, states simply that “Maintenance is fundamental to conservation.”

Despite this, millions of pounds are spent on the last-minute rescuing of buildings that with proper maintenance could have been saved at a fraction of the cost.

If you manage any historic building

Please take in the contents of this site and ensure that you are routinely maintaining it. This site signposts you to the ample advice available online on what to do and when.

If you care about historic buildings or areas

Look out for the signs of decay and neglect and advocate for its maintenance with whoever owns or manages it. This site will help you do this.

Current Activities

Guided by our research report Putting it Off and our experience with a practical maintenance project in Bath.

Guided by our research report Putting it Off and our experience with a practical maintenance project in Bath.

Two strategic reviews of the Museums sector, published on 14th November, draw attention to the dire state of maintenance and repair of many of the nation’s museums and galleries and may force Heritage Lottery Fund

The annual October appearance of Historic England’s list of “Buildings at Risk” conveys a sense that the threats to England’s heritage are known, under control and in some sense, managed. The threat even seems